Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっ Chapter 299 REVIEW

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Tyr causes Keiichi to remember the gruesome death he experienced with his motorcycle crash, causing Keiichi to freak out. It takes Belldandy shouting his name to cause Keiichi to regain his composure. Tyr explains that Keiichi didn’t actually die, causing Keiichi to think that Tyr is using some sort of illusion magic like Hagall had done. Tyr says that this was not the case, but since bringing back one from the dead is not a simple thing to do, Tyr simply had Keiichi immediately regenerate his shattered bones and organs. The result was the feeling of death for Keiichi.

Tyr tells Keiichi he has one more chance. Keiichi knows he won’t die even if he loses, so he must decide. Tyr knows what Keiichi is thinking, so he ups the stakes by saying that this time, he might not save Keiichi and allow him to die. This causes Keiichi to think as Belldandy observes, knowing Keiichi will race despite the danger. Belldandy understands for the first time the fear of losing someone important to her. She wants Keiichi to be alive, but she can’t bring herself to tell him not to race since she wants to be with him.  As such, she laments her selfishness.

Keiichi does’t think he’ll be able to pull off Tyr’s miracle, but hasn’t quite made up his mind on what to do.  Tyr decides to prompt Keiichi into racing, but Keiichi’s bike isn’t there. Tyr is puzzled by this and says he’ll make a new one. However, Keiichi sees a bike floating in, made of silver. Tyr is surprised by this as a gold bike comes floating in. To the amazement of all three, the goddess of the lake appears, telling Keiichi he’d dropped the bike and asking him which bike he dropped.

Thoughts/Review:

Hoo!hoo! Oh Fujishima-sensei.  I have to say that I didn’t see that coming at all, though the water from the last chapter was a dead clue.

Before we get to that, lets take a moment to look at Tyr. Until now, Tyr and his test for Keiichi was something I didn’t have a problem with. After all, Belldandy is his daughter and a lot of fathers are very protective of their daughters.

The problem I had here wasn’t even that Tyr caused Keiichi to experience a gruesome death. It is the fact that he’s going back on his word.  At the start, Tyr had promised Keiichi that he wouldn’t die and nothing bad would happen. However, just as Keiichi is trying to decide to go for his final try or not,  Tyr suddenly threatens Keiichi with real death if Tyr decides not to heal him as he did before.

I understand that Fujishima-sensei is trying to make things more dramatic by having Keiichi put his life on the line.  Were I Keiichi, the second Tyr reneged on his promise, I would have called him out on that. Granted, Tyr could still change the rules, but at least Keiichi would have called him out.

Of course, this sinister, vindictive side of Tyr is no doubt what attracted Hild to him and why she agreed to bear his firstborn child (Urd).

Still, Tyr is not omnipotent, as this and the previous chapters reveal. Although this place where the test for Keiichi is taking place should be under Tyr’s control since he made it, somehow, the goddess of the lake managed to enter here.

When Judgement Gate sent Keiichi and Belldandy into the past to experience the life of the lake goddess and the bard, it was supposed to simply be a way for them to observe a tragic event that happened when an immortal goddess and a mortal human male fell in love.  However, from the start, Belldandy was able to break free and reach Keiichi, though Judgement Gate sent them both back into the bodies of the goddess and the bard.

I think that Belldandy and Keiichi ended up changing history when they sealed up the goddess of the lake to save her when previously, she’d been doomed to die. Belldandy had communed with the goddess and so after however many years, she has found a way to be free of the seal and now is returning the favor Belldandy bestowed upon her.

Regardless of the actual mechanics of the lake goddess coming into Tyr’s territory and helping out Keiichi and Belldandy, I love it.  Seeing the goddess of the lake there giving Keiichi the same choices she’d given the bard was just awesome.  I can’t wait to see how Tyr reacts to all of this. ^_^